The embodiments of the present invention relate to controlling attribute expression for a user and/or avatar within a virtual environment. A virtual environment refers to a computer-based, simulated environment intended to allow one or more users to interact with one another within simulated real world or fantasy locations. Within virtual environments, users can represent themselves using a visual character called an “avatar.” A user typically selects an avatar to represent or convey some characteristic that the user wishes to express or expose to others within the virtual environment. For example, an avatar for a teenage user within a virtual environment may carry a skateboard to reflect the lifestyle of that user. As such, an avatar serves as an onscreen persona for the user.
Typically, a user accesses a virtual environment through a client computing system that interacts with a remote server. The remote server can provide a variety of geographically separate users with a communal space, e.g., the virtual environment, in which to interact with each other embodied as avatars. Each user, as represented by his or her avatar within the virtual environment, can move about within the virtual environment, interact with other avatars, e.g. users, as well as graphical objects within the virtual environment.